You know you're dealing with a LibDem when he has a story about a tree, a wine rack and a refusal to accept defeat.
Coming past a corner in my local Southwark Park in 2009, I saw a sapling split and leaning over. It was snapped about two feet from the ground, bare white wood showing, the upper trunk at 45 degrees. I ran home, pulled two sticks from my wine-rack, grabbed a lycra (weather-proof) t-shirt, and hurried back. I needed one extra stick from the ground to fashion a splint, yanked the tree straight, and tightened the t-shirt. The tree stayed upright, the sap healed, and the splint stayed in place for a year, before the park-keepers cut it away. The broken little cherry tree still stands - it's grown taller than me. It blossoms early, bringing a pink highlight to December.
In the same park, I physically rescued a swan that had flown over the railings, couldn't get back, and had been locked in the gaze of a large dog. I also called in vets to rescue the sole surviving gosling after a bout of disease that had wiped out all the chicks on the pond one spring - this involved them in a dinghy and me on the shore with a net. We saved the gosling and sent it off to a new life in the suburbs, after a period on a drip.
I spend much of my time spreading awareness of healthy feed for the birds, and some years ago invested in poultry spice and herbal wormer with which I was able to bring a number of dilapidated ducks and geese to beautiful plumage. My proudest moment was when an elderly goose, with whom I'd been working for a couple of months, was able to make one final flight with his new feathers. He'd spent weeks on his own every night after the flock had departed for a neighbouring dock. He couldn't get airborne to go with them. My eyes popped as he went through a pre-flight ritual, flapped hard, and flew - just from one end of the pond to the other, before crash landing by the dolphin. It was his last flight; he didn't live more than a day or two longer. But he made it.
I'm a member of Wild About the Dock, which started as a Facebook photography group, but has become a real-life volunteer group looking after waterfowl on Surrey Docks, Canada Water and other local docks.
#pb4mp
Coming past a corner in my local Southwark Park in 2009, I saw a sapling split and leaning over. It was snapped about two feet from the ground, bare white wood showing, the upper trunk at 45 degrees. I ran home, pulled two sticks from my wine-rack, grabbed a lycra (weather-proof) t-shirt, and hurried back. I needed one extra stick from the ground to fashion a splint, yanked the tree straight, and tightened the t-shirt. The tree stayed upright, the sap healed, and the splint stayed in place for a year, before the park-keepers cut it away. The broken little cherry tree still stands - it's grown taller than me. It blossoms early, bringing a pink highlight to December.
In the same park, I physically rescued a swan that had flown over the railings, couldn't get back, and had been locked in the gaze of a large dog. I also called in vets to rescue the sole surviving gosling after a bout of disease that had wiped out all the chicks on the pond one spring - this involved them in a dinghy and me on the shore with a net. We saved the gosling and sent it off to a new life in the suburbs, after a period on a drip.
I spend much of my time spreading awareness of healthy feed for the birds, and some years ago invested in poultry spice and herbal wormer with which I was able to bring a number of dilapidated ducks and geese to beautiful plumage. My proudest moment was when an elderly goose, with whom I'd been working for a couple of months, was able to make one final flight with his new feathers. He'd spent weeks on his own every night after the flock had departed for a neighbouring dock. He couldn't get airborne to go with them. My eyes popped as he went through a pre-flight ritual, flapped hard, and flew - just from one end of the pond to the other, before crash landing by the dolphin. It was his last flight; he didn't live more than a day or two longer. But he made it.
I'm a member of Wild About the Dock, which started as a Facebook photography group, but has become a real-life volunteer group looking after waterfowl on Surrey Docks, Canada Water and other local docks.
#pb4mp